India Microfinance

How critical is home insurance?

You just moved into your new dream home. You spared no expense in constructing it (or buying it), you decorated it and did the interiors, bragged about it to all and sundry and threw the mother of all house warming bashes ever. You have made friends with neighbours, invited your relatives, and posted pictures of your precious abode on social media – in short, you are on cloud nine, living the dream. But did you insure your home?

Chances are you didn’t.

Home insurance seems to rank very low in the minds of Indians. While most of us are particular about life insurance, health insurance, even accident insurance, but we never seem to consider that the house of our dreams could also have an accident. Home insurance accounts for just about 1% of all the insurance products sold in India. Strangely, people do not even perceive the risk to their property.

However, recent natural calamities – the earthquake in Nepal, landslides and floods in Uttarakhand, floods in Kashmir – have made it abundantly clear to us how easily homes can be destroyed. It is high time we understand how critical home insurance is. A basic home insurance policy can provide you protection against disasters such as fire, lightning, storms and floods. And if you pay a little higher premium, you can also get protection against earthquakes, and, in some cases, even riots and acts of terrorism.

Check out these reasons why you must buy a home insurance policy:

Protection against disasters

Threats to your home can assume many forms – they can be natural calamities or man-made disasters. You are cooking in the kitchen, you get a phone call, you rush to take it, and engage in a stimulating conversation with your bestie. Meanwhile, a gust of wind blows off the flame, the gas leaks, you flick on a switch, and horror of horrors, the entire kitchen bursts into flames. Or as you forget to switch off the iron, it heated up; your lacy stuff caught fire, and the fire kept spreading. You thought you had stubbed out that cigarette properly, but it fell on some papers and you know what can happen next. Or a mob went berserk, and your house just happened to be in the way.

As for natural disasters, anything can happen — a flash flood, a lightning strike, a cyclone, an earthquake, maybe a tsunami. The point is that instead of taking chances – insure your house and rest easy. An insurance policy covers losses caused due to natural as well as man-made calamities. In fact, you can also protect your house against terrorist attacks if you take a comprehensive cover.

Protection against burglaries

When you left your house to go on that vacation, somebody else had a vacation of his own in your home. Yes, you had locked up everything, but that did not stop the determined burglars. They have their ways. And so, upon your return, you find the family silver is missing. Along with the good, old TV, the fancy artifacts and your spouse’s precious watch collection are no longer in your home now. If you take proper home insurance, the theft would still happen – but the damages would be far less, as the insurance company would chip in and help you tide over the loss. An anti-burglary insurance policy now looks like a necessity, doesn’t it?

Protection against stress and worry

It is quite possible that absolutely nothing will ever happen to your dream house. Even if you forget to lock your abode, no intruder might ever step in. No matter how careless you are, your gas stove might never cause a fire. However how careful you are, disasters can strike repeatedly. Even your anti-burglary alarm might fail at critical moments.

While it is good to be careful, even your paranoia might not save you from disasters. So, why take a chance? Insuring your home – the structure and its contents – will give you peace of mind. You won’t need to obsess about “what if”. Because no matter what, the insurance company will be there to make good most of your losses, if not all.

Home insurance is easy to get

In an era where everything is available on the internet, home insurance is no different. It is readily available online. You do not need to go for endless and tedious documentation and paperwork. Just fill out a form online, make your payment and get a copy of your home insurance policy online itself in no time at all.

In the end, home insurance will take only a little out of your pocket. Your home is your pride; it is an extension of your personality. Securing it should be a matter of prime importance to you. You cannot control natural disasters and calamities, but you can safeguard your home against them.